Morose ✔️

18

A whole weekend away. Alone. Just the two of us.

I had trouble sleeping that night, my body was tingling and throbbing, burning and freezing, going from excited to nervous every other second. I knew him— us— well enough by now to know we'd spend a lot of time without any clothes on, our last date was definitely proof of that.

By the time I walked out of my front door and locked it, he was already waiting for me, leaning on his motorcycle, with his sunglasses on. I still wasn't sure if he used them because of the sun, because his helmet didn't have a visor, or to hide the worst of his scar. It was probably the second, I thought as I approached him with my little bag of toiletries and extra set of clothing. He pushed off the bike as I neared, put his hand on my elbow, gently pulling me towards him, and kissed my forehead.

His hand brushed mine as he took my bag, and folded it to fit into the side bags he'd equipped on the motorcycle for the occasion. When he turned to me, he was smirking, and put his arms on my shoulders. "Do you want to drive?"

My heart dropped into my stomach. "What? I can't do that, I—"

"You can drive a car, right?" He jerked his chin towards my hatchback parked a few meters away, and I nodded, staring up at him with wide eyes. "Then you can drive this. It's not that much different."

"I'd wreck it..." I bit my lip and looked down at the shiny, black exterior without a single scratch on it.

"Then I'd have a reason to make some upgrades, and you could paint it for me," he murmured with his sensual, dark voice.

His calloused fingers grazed the side of my cheek as he pulled a lock of hair away from my eye. His smile didn't falter, and I felt my stomach turn around and knot itself up as I stared into those soul-searching eyes through the dark glasses, thankful that they shielded the worst of the effects. "Maybe some other time," he added when I didn't say anything. His fingers moved to lift up my chin, and he scanned my face. "Ready to go?"

He handed me the spare helmet I'd used a few times already, and grinned at me. I nodded, and said, "Where are we going?"

"Out of town," he replied, putting his own helmet on and swinging his leg over the seat of his motorcycle. "Away from Vultures and angry women, so I can get to know you even better without any distractions."

"You know what happens when we don't have any distractions," I muttered as I put the helmet on.

He raised a brow. "Am I that irresistible?"

"Shut up." I put my hands on his shoulders as I climbed onto the beast of a vehicle, and settled in with my arms around his hard torso.

"I know you won't, you didn't lie when you said you were loud." He practically purred at me, his whole body vibrating against mine as I held on.

My cheeks turned red and I was definitely happy he couldn't see me as I said, "I haven't been that loud before."

His body kept vibrating as he chuckled. "I'm gonna take that as a compliment."

You should, I thought, but decided I didn't want to feed his ego any more as the engine roared under us. My arms tightened around him, suddenly very aware that we were going away, without Jesse, without the vengeance-seeking bitches and without any distractions, as he'd already said. I closed my eyes as he took his feet off the ground and we took off, away from my lovely, little hideout, from the river, from the clubhouse and my life. Away from where I was when I got that phone call, away from my family— with Helix James.

I just knew my mom would go crazy when she eventually found out— there wasn't that many people driving through Oak Creek with shiny, black motorcycles, open-faced helmets and wolf-jackets, and even less who did it with a girl on the back. But I decided I didn't care. I meant what I said to defend him that night, he's a kind man with the biggest heart I'd known, and I was safe with him.